Quotes from Tour de France stage 10 | Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen, Matteo Jorgenson and Arnaud De Lie

Stage 10 of the Tour de France is a day for the sprinters. Completely flat in nature, it's a welcome sight after what was a very hard first week and the first rest day of the race. Whilst the pure sprinters will be at the front, a few riders are concerned with the chances of wind showing up and causing chaos. We take a look at the statements at the start from some of the main riders in the race.

Wout van Aert (Wielerflits) - “I am very curious how I came out of that rest day and how today will go. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that immediately after I get up. I did feel a lot better rested than the following days, but that is logical: you have had a quieter day. But that doesn’t say anything about how the legs are doing. It is very clear that this stage was put in the course to create echelons. There are many open sections in the final. They hoped that the wind would blow in the right direction. I think the direction itself is okay, but there still seems to be too little wind to really make anything happen.”

"It is certainly a stage that suits me. If echelons were to form, that would be even better. But yes, you have to be in them yourself. We also have to try to protect Jonas [Vingegaard], of course, but we all have to fight to be at the front. You should never think that you have to save too much energy, because then you end up on the edge and before you know it you'll be blown off."

Mathieu van der Poel (Wielerflits) - “They do predict some wind, but that stage last week was the same and there was a lot of nervousness for very little. But we will have to be attentive. I still have to look at the course and the wind. There is a bit of wind, but certainly not enough. Maybe it will be a bit more along the way. I do expect there to be a bit of nervousness, but for now it looks like it will just be a sprint. If there are echelons and I am in the first echelon, then I hope Jasper is there too. He should certainly be able to do that. We just have to play our best card on a day like this.”

Jasper Philipsen (Wielerflits) - “I am definitely ready, physically and mentally, to go for it today. We will have to see, but we have to be alert anyway. We have to be alert and keep up. The chance is there. We have to take it into account and be at the front, because then the cracks will appear behind us. It can be that simple. On paper of course. I am looking ahead. I should not worry about the past sprints, you can’t change anything about them anyway. It is what it is. I am just trying to look ahead to the next opportunities, which are definitely still there.”

Matteo Jorgenson (Wielerflits) - “The wind will definitely come from the right direction. It is not certain, but there is certainly a possibility. We will see how it goes in the race, but it will certainly not be an easy day. Can it be a decisive day for the classification? It is the Tour de France, every stage can be decisive. Tomorrow is also a tough day. It is a stage with a lot of elevation. We will have a big fight in the leading group and behind it between the classification riders. I will not jump with the breakaway. Nobody will let me go.”

Arnaud De Lie (Wielerflits) - “Echelons are possible. But our goal is more of a bunch sprint, so we’re not going to create echelons ourselves. But we have to be there. We’ll see what happens, but we’re really focused on the bunch sprint. [The sprint] It’s a little bit uphill, but with the tailwind it will be super fast. That’s not the best finish for me. But I’m going to try to get the best possible result.”